1942: The German SS informs concentration camp commandants that they are free to sterilize any of the prisoners under their control. The directive gives official approval to the practice, already instituted in some camps, of castrating males suspected of sexual attraction to other men

1955: Three men are arrested in Boise, Idaho on charges of lewd conduct and sodomy, inciting a “moral panic” in Boise that resulted in 16 arrests, 15 convictions and almost 1,500 people being questioned

1969: Gay Power, “New York’s First Homosexual Newspaper” and the first publication to emerge from the post-Stonewall movement, publishes its premiere issue. 1988: ACT UP protests MoMA’s show of graphic photos of people with AIDS by celebrated photographer Nicholas Nixon, who was neither gay nor afflicted. “The artist makes people with AIDS look like freaks, [&hellip

1969: The American Sociological Association issues a public declaration, condemning “oppressive actions against any persons for reasons of sexual preference” and endorses rights of homosexuals and other sexual minorities. It is the first national professional organization to voice support of gay and lesbian civil rights

1969: West Germany repeals laws prohibiting gay acts between consenting adults-applies to males only as lesbianism was never proscribed by W. German law. 1977: The present-day Log Cabin Republicans organization is founded as the “Gay Republicans” club, a group of lesbians and gays within the United States’ Republican Party. 1979: New Jersey decriminalizes private consensual [&hellip